NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF RWANDA FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE BACC IV ACADEMIC YEAR: 2012-2013 CHAPTER 1. TOPIC: DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ONLINE COMPUTER LABS MONITORING SYSTEM CASE STUDY: NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF RWANDA ICT CENTER/Helpdesk Unit Guider: Mr. Ratnakar Kitnana Done by: NTEGEREJIMANA Fidele RegNo: 10101528 Done at HUYE, February 26th 2013 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1. 0. Introduction The computer is the principal tool used in today’s technology.

It is being widely used all over the world and has a major impact in our daily life. People use computers in many ways such as keep track of products; it helps teachers keep track of lessons and grades. They help students do research and learn. Computers let you be connected to networks. They let you hook up to a worldwide network called the Internet. A computer laboratory also name computer lab is a cluster of computers that usually are networked and available for use by the public.

Labs frequently are found in public buildings such as libraries, schools such as colleges and universities and community centers. Almost all computer labs offer users’ access to the Internet and provide software that students can use to do research and complete their homework or that others, such as traveling business people, might need for other purposes. Because of their importance to a big number of people, computer labs need to be well monitored. 1. 2. Background of the problem

Rwandan government in his 2020 vision of development has ICT (Information Communication Technology) as one of the three Cross-cutting priorities. The government has formed a national strategy for information and communications technology (ICT). To accomplish this strategy, the Rwandan Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) as a practical and effective partner in assisting the government to achieve its ICT in education goals has the objective of being active in promoting the use of ICT in schools by implementing the computer laboratories in those schools to help teachers and student in learning and doing research.

The National University of Rwanda mission is to generate and disseminate high quality multi-disciplinary knowledge and promote effective research, skills training and community service for national competitiveness and sustainable socio-economic development. Because of this, the good performance is required in different activities at the National University of Rwanda including Computer Laboratories monitoring and management activities. OCLMS is a web-based automated system for tracking, recording computer labs activities and IT assets.

Actually, there is no automated way to manage the computer labs and their users at National University of Rwanda. This slows down the performance and quality of service delivered. The lab monitors who are responsible for monitoring of computer labs are struggling manually to record every day activities, IT assets and labs users management hence making their work tiresome. This is caused by the lack of well designed and automated system that could help the ICT Center at National University of Rwanda’s ICT center to accomplish the task.

The proposed system, Online Computer Labs Monitoring System will help the ICT-Center especially in its Helpdesk unit to ease their work since the labs in charges do their duties well and quickly. By using this proposed system, they should be equipped with a good way of computer labs management, resource accessibility and quality of service delivered will be improved. 1. 2. Problem Statement At NUR, Computer Labs are not well managed therefore the service is poorly derived. This makes difficult the record of computer labs information and labs’ users complain about the services derived.

Therefore, it is necessary to carry out an investigation on the current computer labs monitoring way in order to develop an automated software system for ICT Center’s Helpdesk Unit to be able to address the problems mentioned. The NUR Helpdesk Unit is still using the manual way like the use of excel sheets, notebooks, papers, files to keep data and there is no specific and centered software system used to manage different computer labs and sites. When labs coordinator needs a report from any computer lab, it is difficult to access it and the communication between labs monitor and labs coordinator is also difficult.

Labs are on different distant location and the monitoring system is difficult. 1. 3. Objectives 2. 3. 1. Main Objectives The main objective of this project is to develop an Online Computer Lab Monitoring System with the view of addressing the problems mentioned. 2. 3. 2 Specific Objectives 1. To analyze the current labs monitoring system 2. Develop a interactive software that can improve computer labs management 3. Design Online Computer labs Monitoring System 4. Help the NUR ICT Center / Helpdesk Unit by designing the web-based system to be used in coordinating all activities related to the lab monitoring. . Guarantee the security of the system In summary, the aim of this project is to improve the management of Computer Laboratories and make service delivery improved. The objective is to create a database with detailed information about each Computer, record the daily activities at any lab, service delivered and facilitate communication among the users. 1. 4. Interest of the project The interest is categorized into personal and social interests 1. 4. 1. Personal interest Apply the knowledge gained during the academic field to solve the practical problem * To improve the knowledge in the field of software design and development 1. 4. 2. Social interests * To create a software that will handle all impairments found in manual system * To carry out good management of recorded information * To help Rwanda to achieve the vision 2020 goals especially using ICT * This will be a part of contribution for the IT Asset Management and the NUR Management in general and will know exactly when an IT Asset can be replaced. 1. Hypothesis of the project With the help of an Online Computer Labs Management System it is possible to improve the quality of services and computer labs monitoring at National University of Rwanda ICT Center in general and in High Education Institutions in particular by providing a web based software system. 1. 6. Scope of the project A scope of this project is limited to the management of Computer Labs on two sites: Mamba site and Main Campus site. This web-based system will provide a clear and quick way of treating Computer labs records and other IT assets at NUR. 1. . Methods and techniques 1. 7. 1 Software methodology The software methodology that will be used which will be used during this project is “the prototyping model” This will help to build, test and then rework as necessary until an acceptable prototype is finally achieved from which the complete system or application can then be developed and implemented. 2. 7. 2 Data gathering techniques 1. 7. 2. 1 Document study technique The consultation of books, documents review, class notes, Internet browsing and related subjects of this work. 1. 7. 2. 2 Techniques of investigation

To understand deeply the requirements and problem domain, the techniques of investigation such as interviews, observation and questionnaires will be used to achieve the aim of this project. 1. 7. 3 Tools and languages to be used The tools and languages to be used include: * Web Server: Apache Server * Database management system: MySql * Database query language: SQL * Code Editor: Rapid PHP and Rapid CSS * Client side programming languages: HTML and JavaScript * Server side programming languages: PHP * Styling languages: CSS 1. 8. Organization of the project The project is divided into five parts: The first chapter deals with the general description of the system. * The second chapter provides the review of the literature and theoretical concept. * The third part deals with the existing system analysis and methodology used in software development. * The fourth chapter deals with development and conception of the project. * The fifth chapter deals with conclusion and recommendations to this project ——————————————– [ 1 ]. http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Computer_lab , visited on 25/02/2013 [ 2 ]. http://nur. ac. rw/spip. php? page=mission, visited on 25/02/2013